just sent you an email. Yes, its the old muffler. I am thinking of making a beer dispenser out of it... Got any ideas?

The ProDuro is great I think. I don't have a comparison to other mufflers, but this one surely gives more throttle response and more power. Its a bit louder too - but not too disturbing. anyway, loud pipes save lives, right? In China for sure. People hear you and are more aware something faster and bigger is coming... You need to live with some back-fire noise. For me it was worth the effort.

A great report AW and the pictures really bring it to life, thank you. I have wireless broadband at long last, but slow at less than 40kbs because of weather but the pictures were fine. Anyone stuck on dial-up may complain. When I post a thread anywhere with lots of pics I just state 'pic heavy' in the title so people can choose.

Any idea what the phone numbers spray painted on the walls are for? Anything like the cards left in telephone boxes by ladies of the night? Might be handy if you are stuck in a town without a hotel!

I smiled when I read about your eye, (with sympathy) as I have a very bad habit of forgetting to drop the visor at times because for years I rode without one so I am used to cold wind on my face, I had a couple of exciting episodes from that bad habit. Glad your eye recovered so quickly, must have been a shock. Seeing that bike crashed on the edge of the road is sobering too. I do hope someone thought to look over the edge in case the poor sod is still laying down there somewhere waiting for help ...?

The crash bars did their job, worth the money even if you replace them, they probably saved you from a disastrous event with a smashed radiator or worse.

thanks (or not) for taking our illusions to reality... You are our officially certified writing on the wall translator now! anyway, for those of you thinking about making a motorcycle drivers license - you got the right number here.

I got the perfect adventure -even the time was much too short. It cries for more...

Thanks for the great ride report and photos. Every ride report I read on MCM adds fuel to my fire and makes me look forward to my next trip to China. I agree how it's possible for a perfect ride to go to sh*t in an instant. I've seen that happen before. I'm glad you're incident was not serious. Looking forward to more ride reports and updates on your bike modifications. By the time you have your JH600 perfect, I hope I'll be ready to purchase one and take advantage of all of your experience with it.

A question about your Zumo. Has Garmin corrected the issue that existed with units that were purchased outside of China having a 400m offset on maps purchaesd in China? Last time I was there, my GPSMap 60Csx was worthless in built-up areas because of this.

... By the time you have your JH600 perfect, I hope I'll be ready to purchase one and take advantage of all of your experience with it.

A question about your Zumo. Has Garmin corrected the issue that existed with units that were purchased outside of China having a 400m offset on maps purchaesd in China? Last time I was there, my GPSMap 60Csx was worthless in built-up areas because of this.

Cheers,

Dan K.

Hi Dan,

guess the bike never will be really "perfect". The project will go on forever I guess. New ideas are coming up all the time. Looking forward for you getting your bike and seeing pictures. The more bikers in China the better.

The ZUMO is bought in Germany. I bought the China map from Garmin online, at that time not knowing about the "chinese government requested" off-set. I had to learn it the sad way...Why are those guys in the US not honest about it? I called them and they recommended me a "correction file" after several calls - but as I found out later, it does work on some devices, but not on the 660. Many are feeling cheated if you look around in the net. I also got a chinese Garmin, with a functioning map, but Garmin China does not sell any waterproofed devices. I enjoy things to be as good as possible - well no choice here for the ZUMO but to get another map from the net, where people have been playing around and correcting the off-set (among others). It's a little tricky to get that map running - bit it works all right now. Of course no updates.
I haven't checked lately on the Garmin page about news on this map. Last time I checked, I couldn't find the China map anymore.

Most excellent ride report , it looks like all those modifications are paying off nicely. I think many people would have turned around at that land slide , very brave of you to push forward and tackle it. Between the modification updates and ride reports, you're making it hard to get things done at work these days.

It's too bad about Garmin, they make some great devices, but they're probably doomed to fail in the coming years. Android and the iPhone OS will continue to take their market share as both devices (in a weatherproof case) are probably much better options as a GPS for China. The 400 meter offset is just a way to make sure that foreign GPS brands can't offer a quality user experience and thus, share a level playing field with their China competitors. Garmin can't talk about the China problem without negative impact on their business here, unfortunately many people are not informed of that when making a purchase. Hats off to you for having the patience to figure out how to hack it, many others have given up.

Your workshop is stunning , so many toys, and everything is so nice and neat, man am I jealous of a work area like that .

Heard you might be in Dongguan soon, please let me return the favor and buy you dinner or at least a few beers.

You'll be happy to know your Garmin offset can be corrected. I've got the identical device -- Zumo 660, purchased in the US -- and took it to Garmin's distributor here in Shanghai to have the China map installed. The last step of the installation was to go "up to the second floor" and recalibrate to de-offset the offset. Ryan Pyle (of http://cnbmwrider.blogspot.com/) gave me this tip, having done the same with his BMW Navigator IV, which is a Zumo 660 with an extra 4-button slide mount. Price was 599 rmb for the China map (only available in pinyin) and recalibration; not sure what they'd charge for just the latter.

So bring your Zumo with you when you come to Shanghai next week, and we can get you sorted out.

cheers
jkp

Originally Posted by Pfaelzer

The ZUMO is bought in Germany. I bought the China map from Garmin online, at that time not knowing about the "chinese government requested" off-set. I had to learn it the sad way...Why are those guys in the US not honest about it? I called them and they recommended me a "correction file" after several calls - but as I found out later, it does work on some devices, but not on the 660. Many are feeling cheated if you look around in the net. I also got a chinese Garmin, with a functioning map, but Garmin China does not sell any waterproofed devices. I enjoy things to be as good as possible - well no choice here for the ZUMO but to get another map from the net, where people have been playing around and correcting the off-set (among others). It's a little tricky to get that map running - bit it works all right now. Of course no updates.
I haven't checked lately on the Garmin page about news on this map. Last time I checked, I couldn't find the China map anymore.